Tree, Lights & Decorations

34 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Botanically, mistletoe is what kind of plant?
- A. A moss
- B. An orchid
- C. A parasite
- D. A fungus
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A parasite
Did you know? Mistletoe is a hemiparasite that grows on host trees.
2.Which berry is traditionally strung into Christmas garlands in North America?
- A. Cranberries
- B. Juniper berries
- C. Blueberries
- D. Currants
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Cranberries
Did you know? Cranberry strings became a classic homemade Christmas garland.
3.Which classic Christmas plant's sprigs traditionally pair glossy leaves with bright red berries?
- A. Holly
- B. Mistletoe
- C. Ivy
- D. Rosemary
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Holly
Did you know? Holly berries are mildly toxic if eaten.
4.The tree topper star traditionally represents which biblical sign?
- A. The Star of Bethlehem
- B. The shepherds' fire
- C. An angel's halo
- D. The North Star
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The Star of Bethlehem
Did you know? The treetop star stands for the Star of Bethlehem.
5.Where do children traditionally hang their Christmas stockings?
- A. Under the tree
- B. On the doorknob
- C. On the balcony
- D. By the fireplace
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By the fireplace
Did you know? Stockings hang by the chimney, ready for small gifts.
6.About how many years does a Christmas tree need to reach a typical sellable height?
- A. Two
- B. Four
- C. Twelve
- D. Seven
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Seven
Did you know? A typical Christmas tree grows for about seven years before harvest.
7.How many candles does a traditional Advent wreath hold?
- A. Four
- B. Three
- C. Seven
- D. Five
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Four
Did you know? The Advent wreath holds one candle for each of the four Sundays of Advent.
8.A pomander, the classic fragrant Christmas craft, is an orange studded with which spice?
- A. Cloves
- B. Cinnamon sticks
- C. Juniper berries
- D. Peppercorns
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Cloves
Did you know? Pomanders are oranges studded with cloves, used as scented decorations.
9.Which German reformer is linked by tradition to adding lighted candles to the Christmas tree?
- A. Erasmus
- B. Ulrich Zwingli
- C. John Calvin
- D. Martin Luther
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Martin Luther
Did you know? Tradition credits Martin Luther with adding candles to mimic starlight.
10.Which country exports the majority of the world's Christmas ornaments?
- A. United States
- B. China
- C. Poland
- D. Germany
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China
Did you know? China produces the bulk of global Christmas decorations.
11.Which US state grows the most Christmas trees?
- A. Pennsylvania
- B. Oregon
- C. Michigan
- D. North Carolina
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Oregon
Did you know? Oregon leads US Christmas tree production.
12.Which royal consort is credited with popularizing the Christmas tree in Britain?
- A. Benjamin Disraeli
- B. Prince Albert
- C. Queen Victoria
- D. Queen Anne
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Prince Albert
Did you know? Prince Albert set up a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1841.
13.Which Kansas City company accidentally launched modern gift wrap by selling envelope linings in 1917?
- A. American Greetings
- B. Hallmark
- C. 3M
- D. Sears
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Hallmark
Did you know? Hallmark's 1917 envelope linings became the first commercial gift wrap.
14.In Norse mythology, which god died from a dart of mistletoe?
- A. Freyr
- B. Balder
- C. Thor
- D. Odin
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Balder
Did you know? The blind god Hodr was tricked into killing Balder with mistletoe.
15.What was tinsel originally made of in 17th-century Europe?
- A. Tin sheets
- B. Real silver
- C. Dyed silk
- D. Copper wire
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Real silver
Did you know? Early tinsel was hammered real silver, later replaced by safer alloys.
16.The first Christmas charity seal, printed in 1904 to fight tuberculosis, came from which country?
- A. Finland
- B. Sweden
- C. Norway
- D. Denmark
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Denmark
Did you know? Danish postal clerk Einar Holbøll created the 1904 Christmas seal.
17.According to legend, how did St. Nicholas help three poor sisters?
- A. By hiring their father
- B. By mailing them coins
- C. By donating openly at church
- D. By tossing gold into their home at night
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By tossing gold into their home at night
Did you know? Legend says St. Nicholas secretly threw gold into their home at night.
18.Which store chain popularized German glass ornaments in America in the 1880s?
- A. Woolworth's
- B. Sears
- C. Macy's
- D. Montgomery Ward
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Woolworth's
Did you know? F. W. Woolworth sold imported German ornaments from 1880 onward.
19.What are the traditional colors of an Advent wreath's candles?
- A. Purple and pink
- B. Blue and silver
- C. Red and gold
- D. All white
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Purple and pink
Did you know? Three purple candles mark the Sundays; the pink one marks the third Sunday.
20.Which fruit traditionally sits in the toe of a Christmas stocking?
- A. A plum
- B. A lemon
- C. An orange
- D. An apple
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An orange
Did you know? Oranges in the stocking toe echo the gold of St. Nicholas legends.
21.Which conservation-minded president banned a White House Christmas tree over environmental concerns?
- A. Theodore Roosevelt
- B. William Howard Taft
- C. Woodrow Wilson
- D. Herbert Hoover
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Theodore Roosevelt
Did you know? Theodore Roosevelt, a famed conservationist, banned the White House tree during his term.
22.What does the circular shape of the Advent wreath traditionally symbolize?
- A. Eternity
- B. The family circle
- C. The seasons
- D. A victory crown
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Eternity
Did you know? The unbroken circle symbolizes eternity, without beginning or end.
23.The Rockefeller Center tree is usually which species of spruce?
- A. White spruce
- B. Norway spruce
- C. Blue spruce
- D. Engelmann spruce
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Norway spruce
Did you know? The Rockefeller Center tree is typically a large Norway spruce.
24.In which year was the first National Christmas Tree lit in Washington, D.C.?
- A. 1931
- B. 1907
- C. 1923
- D. 1913
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1923
Did you know? President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree in 1923.
25.Early tinsel was hung on trees chiefly to reflect what?
- A. Sunlight
- B. Candlelight
- C. Fire glow
- D. Starlight
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Candlelight
Did you know? Silver tinsel shimmered like candlelight on tree branches.
26.Which US president displayed the first Christmas tree in the White House in 1856?
- A. James Buchanan
- B. Andrew Johnson
- C. Abraham Lincoln
- D. Franklin Pierce
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Franklin Pierce
Did you know? Franklin Pierce set up the first White House Christmas tree in 1856.
27.Which US president's White House tree first used electric lights in 1895?
- A. Grover Cleveland
- B. Theodore Roosevelt
- C. Benjamin Harrison
- D. William McKinley
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Grover Cleveland
Did you know? The Cleveland family tree introduced electric lights to the White House in 1895.
28.Which trickster god arranged the mistletoe dart that killed Balder?
- A. Loki
- B. Odin
- C. Thor
- D. Heimdall
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Loki
Did you know? Loki guided the blind Hodr's hand for the fatal mistletoe throw.
29.Which assistant of Thomas Edison created the first electric Christmas tree lights in 1882?
- A. Edward H. Johnson
- B. Alexander Graham Bell
- C. Nikola Tesla
- D. George Westinghouse
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Edward H. Johnson
Did you know? Edward H. Johnson hand-wired 80 red, white and blue bulbs for his New York tree in 1882.
30.In which German town did glass Christmas ornament blowing become an industry?
- A. Nuremberg
- B. Lauscha
- C. Heidelberg
- D. Rothenburg
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Lauscha
Did you know? Glassblowers of Lauscha, in Thuringia, pioneered glass ornaments in the 1800s.
31.Which Chinese city is known as a world capital of Christmas decoration manufacturing?
- A. Shenzhen
- B. Yiwu
- C. Guangzhou
- D. Shanghai
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Yiwu
Did you know? Yiwu's factories supply a huge share of the world's Christmas goods.
32.The Douglas fir is not a true fir but a member of which separate genus?
- A. Picea
- B. Pinus
- C. Abies
- D. Pseudotsuga
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Pseudotsuga
Did you know? The Douglas fir belongs to the genus Pseudotsuga, not Abies.
33.Decorative soldier nutcrackers are a woodcraft of which German region?
- A. The Black Forest
- B. The Rhineland
- C. Bavaria
- D. The Erzgebirge
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The Erzgebirge
Did you know? The Erzgebirge region shaped the classic wooden nutcracker soldier.
34.Which group put up the first tree at Rockefeller Center in 1931?
- A. A department store
- B. Construction workers
- C. The city mayor
- D. Radio performers
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Construction workers
Did you know? Rockefeller Center workers pooled money for the first tree in 1931.

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